THE HEPATITIS BURDEN ON NIGERIA AND THE NEED FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

The significance of a healthy population to the development of any nation cannot be overestimated. This is buttressed by the efforts of the United Nation through goal three (3) of the Sustainable Development Goals in ensuring good health and wellbeing of people worldwide. However, these efforts are being hindered by the prevalence of some viral diseases such as hepatitis B and C. 

To Nigeria and many other countries, these viral diseases have continued to be an issue of concern. Recently, the World Health Organization raised an alarm concerning the wide spread of viral hepatitis in the world and indicated that African countries and Nigeria inclusive are largely affected.  

According to the Global Hepatitis Report 2024 “combined, hepatitis B and C cause 3500 deaths per day, and mortality is increasing.”  It stated further that “an estimated 254 million people are living with hepatitis B and 50 million people are living with hepatitis C worldwide, and 6000 people are newly infected with viral hepatitis each day.” 

More so, “half the burden of chronic hepatitis B and C infection is among people within 30–54 years old; and men account for 58% of all cases while an estimated 12% of the burden is among children.”

As at last year 2023, a telescopic view of Nigeria’s scenario shows that there are 14,400,000 people across all ages infected with hepatitis B and 1,350,000 people infected with hepatitis C. Put together, Nigeria has a total of 15,700,000 infected persons indicating a global burden of 5.2%. In addition, it recorded the death of 46,144 to hepatitis B and 5,652 to hepatitis C making a total of 51,796. And even more worrisome, is the fact that many people remained undiagnosed and even when hepatitis is diagnosed, the number of people receiving treatment remains incredibly low.

Nevertheless, these diseases continue to spread widely through an exposure with unsafe blood supplies, medical injections, other health procedures and mother-to-child transmission. They also spread through migrant populations from countries with higher prevalence or other key populations including people who inject themselves with drugs, people in prisons and other closed settings such as sex workers and gay men.

In view of the foregoing, Nigeria must respond to the alarm timely, firmly and positively in order to avert this ugly trend. All hands must be on deck to fashion out a comprehensive community engagement and empowerment strategies and programs that will enable communities to engage in awareness creation campaigns about hepatitis symptoms and means of transmission as well as providing testing and treatments services. This local public health approach will motivate community members to take ownership of the challenge and device numerous local strategies for eradicating the diseases.  

Furthermore, the government must make efforts to attract the attention of well to do individuals and corporate bodies to participate in eradicating hepatitis B and C by  establishing many endowments programs and conducting corporate social responsibility projects in communities and hospital. 

Government should also facilitate the establishment of local industries that would produce medicines, testing tools and kits and other needed resources in order to make them available and affordable in the country. 

In conclusion, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare currently under a globally acclaimed health professional, Prof. Mohammad Ali Pate must be alive to its responsibilities in maintaining professionalism and best practice among health workers in the country to prevent transmissions through unhealthy health practices. Similarly, concerted efforts must be made to decongest Nigerian Correctional Services in the country to prevent inmate to inmate transmissions.